Evaluating Multifunctional Efficiency of a Structural Battery Composite via Thermo-Electrochemical Modeling

Abstract

Onboard energy storage in electric vehicles is inherently limited by the required mass of load-bearing components. Structural batteries integrating load bearing and energy storage capability can provide improved system-level specific energy at reduced mass penalties. However, lack of analytical models and published data regarding temperature-dependent structural battery performance prevents detailed analysis of their utility and tradeoffs. This work provides a platform to evaluate multifunctional efficiency and performance tradeoffs of multi-cell structural battery composites and assesses several potential battery configurations.

The proposed structural battery composite demonstrates good specific Young’s modulus, a specific energy of 206 Wh/kg, and specific power ranging from 40.5 – 64.6 W/kg, providing a combined multifunctional structural and device efficiency of 1.12 – 1.15 depending on battery configuration and thermal loading conditions. These results strongly demonstrate the potential of load-bearing structural batteries to achieve substantial mass savings or performance improvements for electric vehicles, providing a promising platform for future research.